Slitter and adjustable edge trimmer for a continuously moving web



APrll 9, 1968 D. F. COLLINS ETAL 3,376,774

SLITTER AND ADUSTABLE EDGE TRIMMER FOR A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING WEB Filed Jan. 24, 1966 FIG INVENTOR. DONALD F. COLLINS LAVERN E. DOMER BY (0% @Mm ATTYS.

United States Patent O 3,376,774 SLITTER AND ADJUSTABLE EDGE TRIMMER FOR A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING WEB Donald F. Collins, Akron, and Lavern E. Dorner, Hartville, Ohio, assignors to Adamson United Co., Akron,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed `lian. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 522,777 4 Claims. (Cl. 83-482) ABSTRACT or THE DIscLosURE A slitting and/or edging assembly for an article such as a continuously moving web is provided and such assembly has a pair of side members with a pair of parallel threaded shafts extending therebetween and two pairs of opposed brackets are adjustably carried on the shafts. Means are present to drive the shafts so as to move brackets mounted on the shafts towards or away from each other. The shaft driving means include an idler gear adapted to rotate in either direction and a pair of drive gears engaging with the idler gear to drive the two threaded shafts. Other means are provided for transmitting drive means to cutting discs journalled on each of the brackets.

This invention relates to an assembly which is adapted to slit and trim a continuously moving web, and more particularly, to an edge trimming assembly which includes a pair of edge trimming means, each of which can be adjustably moved to change the width of material edge cut from the continuously moving web.

It is the general object of the invention to provide at least three cutting means which effect a slitting or shearing of a continuously moving web, `the combination being characterized by the edge trimmers being adapted to slide laterally on the frame means of the assembly wherein the amount of material edge-trimmed from the web can be selectively changed, and also by at least one center cutter which is adapted to swing out of cutting engagement with the continuously moving web.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a digrammatic front elevation of a preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention and particularly illustrating the center cutter means and the two edge trimmer cutter means.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the apparatus of the invention as seen from lines 2 2 of FIG. 1, and particularly illustrating the means adapted to swing the center cutter out of cutting engagement with the continuously moving web; and

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic end elevation of the apparatus of the invention as seen from line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the'cutting and trimming assembly generally indicated by the numeral includes a pair of side plates 12 which carry therebetween substantially all of the elements of the invention. Extending between the side plates 12 are a pair of bars 14, which are substantially square in cross section, and are fixedly secured to the side plates 12 in substantially vertically aligned, parallel relation to each other. Also extending between the side plates 12 but mounted for rotational movement therein, are a pair of threaded shafts 16 and a pair of splined shafts 18, both of which are mounted substantially vertically aligned and parallel to each other and to the pair of bars 14.

The `threaded shafts 16 are rotatably driven to eect adjustment by drive gears 20 mounted thereon which are both engaged by and in turn driven by the hand operated idler gear 22 journalled on the stub shaft 23 fixed to the side plate 12. The purpose of such an idler gear 22 is to impart an adjustable drive to the threaded shafts 16 wherein the rotation of both of the shafts is always in the same direction. The threaded shafts 16, extending between the side plates 12, also have a right-hand threaded end and a left-hand threaded end to move the edge trimmers to and from each other as will become evident as the description proceeds.

Unlike the threaded shafts 1.6 which are adapted to be driven in the same direction by the idler gear 22, the splined shafts 18 are adapted to be driven in opposite directions. This is accomplished by a motor 24 acting through chain and sprocket means 26 anddrive gears 28 to effect a drive on the splined shafts 18 wherein one shaft is rotated clockwise and the other shaft is rotated counterclockwise.

A pair of edge trimmers, generally indicated by the numeral 30, are mounted on the lbars 14, the threaded Shafts 16, and the splined shafts 18. The pair of edge trimmers 30 are identical in construction to each other and are mirror images of each other. Therefore, to avoid confusion and for convenience, only one of the pair of edge trimmers 30 will be described in detail.

The edge trimmer 30 is com-posed of a pair of brackets 32, each of which is slidably mounted on a bar 14. Each bracket 32 carries a nut 34 which threadably engages the threaded shaft 16. Also carried by each bracket 32 is a hub 36 which is rotatably joumalled in the bracket and which is in splined engagement with the splined shaft 18. Each hub 36 has xed to its a gear 38 which drives a gear 4t) journalled on an axle 41 splined in the upper bracket 32. YThis affects a drive of the cutter disc 42 bolted t0 gear 40. Cooperating with the disc 42- is the cutter disc 43 fixed to the lower gear -40 journalled on the axle 44 fixed to the lower bracket 32. A compression spring 45 is positioned between the upper bracket 32 and an adjusting nut 46 on the axle 41 acts to resiliently press the cutter disc 42 into good cutting relationship with the disc 43.

In the operation of the edge trimmers 30, the splined shafts 18 are driven in opposite directions by the motor 24 as hereinbefore described. Each hub 36 is splined to the shafts 18, and the rotational movement of the shafts 18, acting through the hubs 36 and the gears 38 and 40, act to continuously drive the cutter discs 42 and 43 in opposed direction at a speed and in the direction of the moving web.

The lateral position of the edge trimmer 30 can be adjusted by manually turning the idler gear 22 in either direction to effect a turning of the threaded shafts 16. The rotation in place of the threaded shafts 16 causes the nuts 34 and the brackets 32 carrying the nuts to be slidably moved in or out on the bars 14. Since the idler gear effects a rotation of the threaded shafts 20 in the same direction, both brackets 32 will be moved along the shafts 14 while remaining in opposed relation to each other. The hubs 36 are slidably 'moved along the shafts 18 on the splines permitting the pair of edge trimmers 30 to ybe moved without losing rotational drive when the threaded shafts 16 are rotated. Due to each threaded shaft '16 having one right-hand threaded end and one lefthand threaded end as hereinbefore described, the pair of edge trimmers 30 Iwhen laterally adjusted will correspondingly move inwardly towards the center or outwardly towards the side plates 12 dependent upon the direction of rotation of the idler gear 22.

It is lpossible to provide at least one center cutter or slitter indicated generally by the numeral 47, for use in the apparatus of the invention. The cutter 47 is positioned between the two edge trimmers 30 and, like the adjustable edge trimmers 30, is slidably mounted to the bar 14. This is accomplished by a pair of brackets 48, each of which is slidably mounted to the bars 14. Each bracket 48 on a laterally extending ear 48a carries a nut 49 which threadably engages with a threaded shaft 50. The threaded shafts 50 are driven by drive gears 51 mounted thereon which are both engaged by and in turn driven by an idler gear 53 also journalled on stub shaft 23. Idler gear 53 is adjustably driven by a hand-operated gear 55, as best illustrated by FIG. 3. The purpose of gears 53 and 55 is to impart an adjustable drive to the threaded shafts 50 wherein the position of the center cutter 47 can be adjustably moved, in like manner as the pair of edge trimmers are selectively adjusted, as hereinbefore described. The brackets 48 also have both the screw shafts 16 and the splined shafts 18 extending rotatably therethrough. Actually each screw shaft 16 extends without touching through a hole 57 in each bracket. A hub 52 is also rotatably journalled on each bracket 48 and is splined in driving engagement with splined shaft 18. Each hub 52 has fixed to it a gear 54 which engages a gear 56, the gears 56 effecting a drive in opposite directions to the cutting discs 58 secured thereto. It should be noted that the cutting discs 58 are a slight variation from the edge trimming cutting discs 42 and 43 in that the cutting discs 58 act to effect a slitting of the continuously moving web, whereas the cutting discs 42 effect a shearing and edge trimming type action on the web.

A feature of the center cutters 47 is that the upper cutting disc 58 is adapted to be swung out of cutting engagement with the other so that the continuously moving web is only edge trimmed by the edge cutters 30 and not slit in the center. The swinging away of the upper disc 58 is accomplished by rotatably mounting this disc 58 on an extension arm 60 of the upper bracket 48. The arm 60 is pivotally mounted on the upper hub 52. The arm 60, at its end remote from the hub 52, has fixed to it a stub axle 61 which rotatably supports the upper gear 56 and upper disc S8. A ange member 62 is also fixedly secured to or formed as part of the arm 60. A lever or handle 64 is welded to this flange 62 and a notch 66 is cut in the liange 62. A pin 68 is mounted on the upper bracket 4S and compression spring means 70 tend to force the pin 68 against the liange 62. Thus, when the lever 64 is manually operated and pushed to the position indicated by the chain dotted lines in FIG. 2, the flange 62 is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 and the additional arm 60 pivots about the hub 52, carrying with it the gear 56. The gear 56, when such a pivoting action occurs, walks around the gear 54 with which it is in driving engagement, until the upper cutting disc 58 carried by the gear 56 swings out of engagement with the lower cutting disc 58 and occupies the dotted lines in FIG. 2. As this -pivoting action occurs and the iiange 62 moves in the direction of the arrow, the notch 66 cut in the fiange 62 advances until it is directly under the pin 68 wherein the pressure exerted by the compression spring 70 forces the pin down into thereby causing the upper cutter disc 58 to be held in the chain dotted position. When it is desirable to return the upper cutting disc 58 into cutting engagement with the lower cutting disc 58, the pin 68 is simply pulled out of the notch 66, the handle 64 is moved back to its original position, and the gear 56 again walks around the gear 54 in the reverse of the process hereinbefore described.

As previously stated, at least one and possibly more center cutters 47 can be utilized in the slitting and edging assembly for a continuously moving web.

While in accordance with the patent statutes only one best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby, but that the inventive scope is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A slitting and/or edging assembly for a member such as a continuously moving web including a pair of side members,

position indicated by the chain the notch 66,

a pair of parallel threaded shafts having one righthand threaded end and one lefthand threaded end and extending between the side members,

two pairs of brackets adjustably mounted on the shafts, one pair of brackets normally being adjacent each edge of the web,

a nut carried by each bracket, each shaft having working engagement with the nuts of one bracket of each palr,

means to drive the threaded shafts in the same direction to move each pair of brackets towards or away from the other pair,

a gear journalled in each bracket,

a pair of splined shafts extending between the side plates, each shaft having splined engagement with a gear of one bracket of each pair,

means to drive the splined shafts in opposite directions,

' a cutting disc journalled on each bracket,

a drive gear associated with each disc and engaging with the gear on the bracket, the cutting discs of each of the two pairs of brackets cooperating to edge trim the web,

a third pair of brackets adjustably mounted between the side members in substantially opposed relationship to each other,

a gear journalled in each of said third brackets, each gear having splined engagement with the corresponding splined shaft,

a cutting disc journalled on each of said third brackets,

a drive gear associated with each disc journalled on said third bracket and engaging with the gear on such bracket, the cutting discs of each pair of said third brackets cooperating to slit the center of the web, and

means to swing one of the cutting discs journalled on one of the said third brackets out of and back into cooperating cutting engagement with the other cutting disc journalled on the other of said third brackets.

2. A slitting and/ or edging assembly for a member such as a continuously moving web including a pair of side members,

a pair of parallel threaded shafts having one righthand threaded end and one lefthand threaded end and extending between the side plates,

two pairs of brackets adjustably carried on the shafts,

`one pair being adjacent each edge of the web,

a nut carried by each bracket, each shaft having working engagement with the nuts of one bracket of each pair,

means to drive the threaded shafts in the same direction to move each pair of brackets towards or away from the other pair, said means including an idler gear, adapted to rotate in either direction, and a pair of drive gears engaging with the idler gear at circumferentially opposed points, one drive gear driving one threaded shaft, the other drive gear driving the second threaded shaft,

a gear journalled in each bracket,

a pair of splined shafts extending between the side plates, each shaft having splined engagement with a gear of one bracket of each pair,

means to drive the splined shafts in opposite directions,

a cutting disc journalled on each bracket, and

a drive gear associated with each disc and engaging with the gear on the bracket, the cutting discs of each of the two pairs of brackets cooperating to edge trim the web.

3. A slitting and/ or edging assembly according to claim 1 and including a nut carried by each of said third brackets,

a second pair of threaded shafts, each shaft having working engagement with the nuts of said third brackets, and

means to drive said second pair of threaded shafts in the same direction to move each of said third brackets toward one pair and away from the other pair of said two pair of brackets.

4. A slitting and/ or edging apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the means to drive the spiined shafts in opposite direction include a motor,

chain and sprocket means driven by said motor,

a drive gear in one direction by said chain and sprocket means, said drive gear effecting a drive on one of the pair of splined shafts, and

a second drive gear engaging with the rst drive gear and being driven thereby in a direction opposite said rst drive gear, said second drive gear effecting a drive on the second of the pair of splined shafts.

References Cited UNiTED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM S. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

